The COVID-19 pandemic has created unique opportunities and challenges in the regulation of physiotherapy. Speakers from Argentina, Colombia, Peru, and Puerto Rico share how COVID-19 is disrupting physiotherapy and identify the unique regulatory opportunities that have arisen from the current pandemic.

In light of COVID-19, physiotherapy practice and the training of physiotherapy students have changed significantly. As tele-rehabilitation becomes more prominent, physiotherapy accrediting bodies and universities must account for the role tele-rehabilitation in clinical education. The speakers and attendees will discuss elements of quality physiotherapy clinical education, including tele-rehabilitation; expand on inter-professional practices within tele-supervision; and be a resource for regulators, educators, and students.

How do we know health profession regulators are doing a good job? Regulators around the world are increasingly challenged to show proof of their effectiveness to the public and government. Meaningful, quantitative key performance indicators are often just out of reach for many of the complex realities of regulation. In Ontario, Canada, a performance measurement system has been developed with active engagement by the 26 health regulatory Colleges. This presentation will explore critical success factors in developing a provincial system, the performance measurement framework content, and early methods for implementation.

Physical therapy regulators should have a heightened interest in risks and supports for practitioners. Health insurance malpractice information is a rich source of information to identify risks to safe and effective practice. Join us to learn how to use this valuable data to protect the public.

In this presentation speakers from the United States and China will delve into the current training and regulation of physical therapists in China. The speakers will share case examples from experiences in building collaborations between countries to train future physical therapists and physical therapist educators in the United States who then return to China.

Canadian regulators and policy makers are looking at regulatory trends around the world as they consider fundamental changes to the current system. Richard examines ten global initiatives and approaches that appear most promising relating to governance of regulators, their oversight and enhanced transparency about individual practitioners. Combining regulatory theory with practical examples, and few hidden gems plucked out of social media, results in a structured presentation mixed with idiosyncratic and eclectic insights.

Road Map to Regulation–Speakers from Nigeria and Poland - July 2, 2019

This webcast will trace the history of the physiotherapy profession in Nigeria and Poland. Emmanuel John and Habeeb Ololade will speak about the preceding three decades of relentless advocacy leading up to the Nigerian government's approval of a regulatory body. Using the Nigerian experience, we will explore what physiotherapy professional associations can do while waiting for successful outcomes of their advocacy for a regulatory body. Dalia Woźnica will discuss how the Polish Chamber of Physiotherapists initiated the National Rehabilitation Reform, what barriers and opportunities occurred along the way, and future goals.

Physical Therapist Assistants: To Regulate or Not To Regulate, That is the Question—Plus, Lessons Learned from Quebec’s Regulation of Physiotherapy Technologists- April 4, 2019

This webcast will focus on learning about the strengths/weaknesses that are associated with both regulating and not regulating PTAs. We will discuss the "future state" of PTA practice in Canada, and about the lessons that we can learn from Quebec's regulation of physiotherapy technologists; the driving forces for creating this regulation, and the hurdles and challenges that Quebec faced along the way.

Regulation of Assistive Personnel Around the Globe - December 12, 2018

Regulation and education requirements of physiotherapist support personnel differs greatly across countries. Therefore, INPTRA teamed up with two presenters to create an environmental scan of the physiotherapist support personnel role around the world. This webcast will serve as a base for understanding regulation, or the lack thereof, for support personnel in different countries. This session shared the “behind the scenes” regarding the Support Personnel Survey that was sent out, including why and how these questions were chosen. Then, we go deeper into the methodology, limitations, and results of the survey.

Accreditation and Global Mobility – What can we learn from physiotherapy and other professions about accreditation, regulation and global mobility? - June 5, 2018

Uriel Pierre, Deputy Registrar for Admissions of the Order of Physiotherapy of Quebec (Canada)

Margot Skinner, Vice President, WCPT (New Zealand)

INPTRA and WCPT jointly hosted this webinar on accreditation and global mobility. In part 1 of this joint webinar series, we explored the differences between accreditation around the globe and recognized that many countries do not have any accreditation of their educational programs. In this webinar, we explore the implications that variation in accreditation has on global mobility. The session looks at the challenges of accrediting international programs when practice is different. It looks into a mutual recognition model that acknowledges educational differences and provides a potential solution, and finally we explore WCPT’s accrediting program and potential opportunities for uniform standards and mobility.

Sanctions, Discipline, or Remediation - Does your board use a hammer or give a hand ? - December 5, 2017

Regulators are charged with upholding the laws and regulations that govern their professions requirements to practice. What are the possible responses for a regulatory authority to violations of those requirements? What are the objectives of the response? Remediation, punishment, prevention or something else? Is it possible for regulators to approach situations and circumstances differently but still maintain consistency in approach?

This session explores two different models, one from Australia and one from the United States. The presenters also explore the strengths and limitations of their respective approach and possible considerations for best practices in upholding the standards and requirements for practice.

How effective is your regulatory agency? Are you focusing on the right things? This webinar will cover how to use a “harms reduction” approach in regulation to increase effectiveness. David Collie will share his experience in implementing this approach with The Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) in Ontario, Canada. Hear how David and his colleagues took an aggressive approach to protecting the public and electrical workers. David’s presentation will outline the approach ESA has taken to implement a Harms Reduction approach, derived from Harvard University’s Dr. Malcolm Sparrow. The same principles can be used in the regulation of Physiotherapy.

Engaging registrants in the self-monitoring of risks, supports, and knowledge as a contributor to maintaining competence - February 7, 2017

Presenter: Chris Smerdon, BScPT, MSc, Manager of the Quality Assurance Program, The College of Physical Therapists of British Columbia

The College of Physical Therapists of British Columbia (Canada) has been administering an Annual Self Report (ASR) with all registrants since 2010. The ASR is a short, online, confidential tool that consists of 3 main parts: questions the registrant answers about themselves and their practice in order to identify potential risks and supports to competence; a self-quiz that requires the registrant to apply their knowledge of regulation to practice scenarios; and finally an individualized report that contains additional information about the registrant’s potential risks and supports. In this webinar we will look at the ASR in more detail and how its engagement of registrants fits the purpose of the College’s Quality Assurance Program: to monitor and support the continuing competence of physical therapists in British Columbia. We will also spend some time looking at what we have learned from seven years of administering the ASR and how we have improved it.